


Way You Make Me Feel

by Moondragon8



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, Multi, Polyamory, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2020-01-22 23:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18537754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moondragon8/pseuds/Moondragon8
Summary: Lapis Lazuli and Amethyst have been best friends forever. They also have been planning to run away forever-Lapis from her emotional mother who blames it on her, Amethyst from her huge family that she barely knows. Their plan is to go to the house of one of their friends-Pearl, or Bismuth, or Garnet. Unfortunately, they end up somewhere else.Thankfully, the girl who answers the door is really cute.And her name is Peridot.





	1. Ring Of Keys

**Author's Note:**

> We begin with a flashback. 
> 
> tw: really minor mention of blood and bad relationship with parents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (update: I changed all the chapter titles now!! they're all names of gay songs. all of them. this chapter is Ring Of Keys from Fun Home)

Amethyst pushed her way past her foster sisters and out of the house. They were supposed to help her when she was sad, like real sisters, but she didn’t even know most of their names, and no one had helped when she cut her finger, so why should she care?

“Hmph,” she muttered. 

The small girl kicked at some dirt as she wandered down the road. Her finger was still bleeding, so she stuck it in her mouth. 

There was another girl climbing over the fence of the nearby house. She looked about Amethyst’s age, and interesting, so Amethyst walked up to her. 

“What are you doing?”

“I’m running away.”

Amethyst blinked. “To where?”

The girl looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know.”  
“Well, when you figure it out, can I come?” Amethyst said. 

“Sure,” the girl said with a smile. She held out her hand. “I’m Lapis Lazuli.”

“Amethyst Terra,” Amethyst said, and shook Lapis’s hand with the hand that wasn’t bleeding. “How old are you?”

“Seven.”

“Me too!...almost.”

“When I’m ten, I think, I’ll be old enough to run away,” Lapis said. 

Amethyst nodded. “Ten’s old.”

“Yeah.”

The two stared at each other for a little while. 

“Why are you running?” Amethyst said. 

“It's a whole thing,” Lapis said. "My mom says it's my fault she's crying, and it's not! I swear!"

Amethyst nodded. “I have too many sisters and I don’t know their names.”

Lapis nodded. “That sounds bad.”

“It is.”

The girls smiled at each other in solidarity. 

Amethyst was getting hungry. “So, see you at school?”

“Sure!” Lapis said. “It’ll be nice to have a friend then.”

Amethyst smiled and stood up. “We’ll run away when we’re ten?”

“We’ll run away then,” Lapis confirmed. 


	2. LGBT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: just Gen Z kids being typical Gen Z, i.e. saying they want to die and no one knows how serious they're being  
> Song title is LGBT by Lowell

Amethyst awoke when she fell out of bed. 

“Grrrgh,” she muttered, rubbing her head. She glared halfheartedly at the sleeper who’s fault it was. 

“I’ll get my revenge eventually,” she muttered. She knew she was joking-the girl who had accidentally pushed her out was four, for one thing, and actually knew Amethyst fairly well, for another thing. There were maybe three kids who Amethyst shared the house with that she knew. The rest were either intimidating, showed no interest in her, or left within a week or so. 

Amethyst checked her phone for the time. Her last texts were still visible on the screen. 

_ Alright goodnight Amethyst. _

_ night lazuli _

_ We’ll run away when we’re fifteen? _

_ well run away then _

Amethyst’s mouth reluctantly twitched into a smile. The familiar refrain she and Lapis ended with every time they talked never failed to make her smile. 

“We should probably actually make plans to run away eventually,” she said under her breath before checking the time-6:25-and putting the phone away to start her day.

* * *

 

School was kind of a drag for Amethyst, honestly. She could do okay, but sometimes it just felt like “why bother?”

Pearl would probably tell her “college”, but honestly at this point Amethyst couldn’t really conceive of being old enough for that. She could barely wrap her head around being fifteen sometimes. 

On the plus side, gym was usually pretty fun (except if it was the Pacer test), library was chill, and science had Kahoot on occasion, so school wasn’t totally terrible. 

Also, there was lunch.

Amethyst brought her lunch tray to the usual table-there were ham sandwiches today-and sat down in the usual spot, next to Lapis and Garnet. 

“I really think our next mission should be about the dress code,” Pearl was saying. “It is enforced far too strictly on girls, and the hat rule is ridiculous. If one wishes to wear a hat, and it doesn’t cover their face, why shouldn’t they be allowed to wear it?” 

“Still say we gotta think bigger,” Bismuth said. “Climate change, man! It’s a major issue!”

“What kind of hat covers your face?” Garnet said. She was wearing sunglasses herself, which should have been a dress code violation if hats were, but Amethyst was pretty sure they were prescription or something. 

“Hey Lazuli,” Amethyst whispered under the sound of Pearl and Bismuth debating the relevance of various social rights issues. “How you doing?”

Lapis looked up from the table, where she had been slumped over onto her drawing pad. “I want to yeet myself into the void.”

Amethyst patted her on the back while biting into her ham sandwich. “Please don’t.”

Lapis grumbled. “Pleeeease let me die.”

Amethyst swallowed her sandwich and cleared her throat. “HEY FRIENDS!”  
“ _Amethyst,”_ Lapis said in a half-groan, half-resigned sigh. 

“EVERYONE REASSURE LAZULI HERE THAT SHE IS LOVED AND VALUED SO SHE DOESN’T YEET HERSELF INTO THE VOID, I WOULD MISS HER GREATLY.” 

“ _ Amethyst!”  _ Lapis said, her face heating up. 

“We would all miss you and your cynical comments very much, Lapis Lazuli,” Garnet said, patting her head. “Please don’t yeet yourself into the void.”

“How can you say that with a straight face?” Bismuth asked before turning to Lapis. “Seriously, Emo Queen. Don’t you dare die on us.” She paused. “Unless it’s alongside us on a barricade.”

“Don’t you dare die on a barricade,” Lapis said with a surprising amount of emotion for Lapis.

“Aww, she caaaares about us!” Bismuth said, smiling widely. 

Pearl leaned across the table to take Lapis’s hand. “You know we’re all right here and care about you, right?”

Lapis mumbled something annoyed, but Amethyst could tell she was at least slightly moved by everyone’s semi-spontaneous reassurance. 

“Your purple is fading,” she said, pointing to Amethyst’s now somewhere-between-violet-and-lavender hair, and Amethyst knew they would be alright for now. 

* * *

 

It was towards the end of lunch when Bismuth brought up the topic that was lowkey in Amethyst’s mind all the time. 

“So are you two actually planning on running away anytime soon, or what? ‘Cause I can confirm that Dad says door’s open anytime.”

“Moms are okay with it, too,” Garnet said. 

“I’m sure my mother wouldn’t mind,” Pearl said. “Although my sisters might, but they’ll be fine.”

Lapis glanced at Amethyst. “Uhh.”

Amethyst shrugged. “Well, I gotta say, I have actually been thinking about it. And I mean, if all your houses are open…”

Lapis’s mouth twitched slightly. “I have no problem with it, honestly. Any time is good for me, as long as you’re sure your parents won’t mind.”

“My parents love you!” Garnet said. 

“They love everyone,” Amethyst pointed out. 

“Untrue. One time there was this homophobic guy in our neighborhood and then he suddenly left one day and they said they didn’t kill him but I’m still not a hundred percent sure.” 

“I’ll kill him!” Bismuth said, somewhat out of the loop. 

“We’re not killing anybody!” Pearl said. 

“What?” Garnet said. 

In the ensuing confusion, Pearl leaned over and whispered to Amethyst and Lapis “Seriously, if you’re ever ready to do it, just text me to let me know. You know where I live, and it’s the closest.”

Lapis nodded seriously, and then all descended into chaos again, as per usual. 

Amethyst had no idea how soon she would need to take Pearl up on the offer. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is all completely normal from my school experience. Except for the running away part.


	3. Ours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: lapis has a really terrible family situation and also depression
> 
> Circumstances necessitate the immediate departure of Amethyst and Lapis. 
> 
> Or:  
> Lapis did something she probably shouldn't have, and Amethyst and Lapis need to leave. _Now._
> 
> Chapter title is Ours, the song by Taylor Swift, and yes it's not supposed to be gay but I stole from straight people, shut up, it's gay now

Amethyst was awoken from a fuzzy half-sleep by a familiar knocking on the door.

“Lapis?” she muttered, walking downstairs. 

It was Lapis at the door, looking more scared than Amethyst had ever seen her. 

“What’s wrong?” Amethyst said, opening the door halfway. 

Lapis pushed her way inside, shut the door, and hissed “Turn on a light.”  
Amethyst did so, flinched at the light, and then blinked widely at what she saw. 

“Lapis! You dyed your hair!”

Lapis nodded frantically, the electric blue fluff blowing slightly in the breeze from the screen door. 

“You look rad!” Amethyst said, twirling a strand of her own lavender hair around a finger. “What’s wrong?”

“My mom-actually, screw that, Azura-is  _ mad, _ ” Lapis said. “I was feeling mad at her, so I did this, and she said I look like a delinquent and-and-”

She broke off and buried her head in her hands. 

“Hey. Hey,” Amethyst said, rubbing her arm gently. “It’s okay. I’m right here.”

Lapis looked up. “We have to run away.”

“Well, yeah. We knew that since-”

“No. I mean  _ now.  _ Unless you know a way to get permanent hair dye out of hair immediately. _ ” _

Amethyst bit her lip. “I don’t. You really think we need to leave now?”

Lapis nodded frantically. “She said-she said-I’m not-”

“Alright, alright. Take a couple deep breaths. I’ll text Pearl.”  
Lapis slumped down on the floor. 

Amethyst took out her phone. It was about 11, but thankfully a Saturday. 

She typed out a quick text to Pearl- Coming over. Lapis panicking, dyed hair. Please be ready.- and sat down on the floor next to Lapis. “You good?”

Lapis snorted. “When have I ever been good?”

“Point,” Amethyst said. “Seriously though, your hair looks great.”

“Yeah, but I think there’s a bit too high of a price,” Lapis said sarcastically. 

“Price?” Amethyst said. 

“Well, apparently as I don’t look like Azura’s daughter, I’m not her daughter, so there’s that.”

Amethyst winced. “Yikes.” 

“You said it.”

Amethyst patted her. “At least we’re leaving now.”  
“You’re coming?” Lapis said. 

“Of course!” Amethyst said, slightly insulted. 

“But...you really want to leave?”

“I doubt anyone’s gonna notice whether I stay or not,” Amethyst said with an eyeroll. 

Lapis frowned. “Oh, yeah.”

“Hey, no problem!” Amethyst said, nudging her slightly. “We have each other! And Pearl, and Garnet, and Bismuth!”

“Yes,” Lapis said with a small smile. “Our completely non-Azura-approved friends.”

“That’s why we love ‘em!” Amethyst said. 

Lapis sighed and lay back against the counter. “It’s funny that with everything else I’ve done-be a lesbian, have activist friends who are probably going to build a barricade in the middle of Main Street one day, have depression or whatever-it’s the fact that I dyed my hair blue that pushed Azura over the edge.”

“To be fair, she doesn’t actually know you’re a lesbian or that your friends discuss socialism over lunch. Heck, I don’t know if she knows  _ we’re _ friends.”

“Ehhh, I don’t feel like being fairrrr.”

The two laughed, and then Amethyst’s phone chimed. 

No problem. We’ll be waiting. Stay safe, okay? 

Amethyst waved her phone in the air. “Pearl has come through!”

Lapis applauded quietly. “Shall we, then?”

Amethyst helped her up. “Let’s.”

“We’re running away when we’re fifteen?”

“We’re running away now.”

The two slipped out the door. 


	4. Shut Up And Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song title from the cover by Kina Grannis.

“Okay, I’m sure it’s this way,” Amethyst said. 

“That’s what you said the last five times,” Lapis said. 

The two were wandering around a neighborhood that looked familiar in the sense that it literally looked like it was from a sitcom.

It was approximately midnight. 

Lapis burst out laughing. 

“What is it?” Amethyst said. 

Lapis tried to get her giggles under control. “It’s just that...imagine if you looked out your window at midnight and saw two teens with dyed hair wandering around...”

“Walking in the street with no light inside our eyes,” Amethyst said, now laughing as well.

“Kids these days and their late-night sneaking around,” Lapis said in a fake-adult voice. 

“We’d probably look like we’re trying to murder someone,” Amethyst said. 

“And utterly failing,” Lapis said. 

“Well of course.”

“Imagine if someone opened the door and just yelled ‘GET OFF MY LAWN!’” Lapis said. The two had stopped walking by this point and were just sitting on the sidewalk laughing. 

“Pearl would probably just yell ‘SCREW THE BOURGEOISIE!’ and run away,” Amethyst said. 

“She would,” Lapis said with a mixed tone of affection and annoyance. 

“Hey, look, there’s a light on in that window!” Amethyst said, pointing. 

“Oh crap, I bet it’s Pearl!” Lapis said, standing up. “Come on, let’s go before she falls asleep.”  
“When has Pearl ever slept?” Amethyst said, following her. 

The two walked towards the light. 

\--------------------------------------------------------

The light in the window was not, in fact, because of Pearl (who was actually awake, googling ‘interesting france facts’ while she waited for a knock). It was because of Peridot Greene, who had been doing her homework, had finished, and was now reading an article on Homestuck because she Didn’t Feel Like Sleeping.  

Suddenly, a knock rang out. 

Peridot squeaked, shut her computer, and ran downstairs, trying to be quiet. 

Her mind started rattling off possibilities immediately as she tiptoed through the living room.  _ What if it’s a murderer? Or some sort of religious visitation? Calm down, Peridot, it’s probably no-What if it’s the government? Why would that be bad? Oh god, have I violated the Constitution recently? Why didn’t I listen in Government class?  _

She pressed her eye to the peephole that was, thankfully, there, and saw a very blurry impression of purple hair and brown skin. It was clearly someone about her height (short). 

Under the sleep-dazed assumption that murderers, ministers, and government officials weren’t short with dyed hair, Peridot opened the door. 

“Uhh..hey,” the purple-haired girl said. 


	5. girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from the song by girl in red.

One of Lapis’s clearest memories was watching a boring movie with her mom and being all slumped down in her seat, but as soon as a pretty girl came on screen, she sat bolt upright. 

That was kind of how she felt right now. She had the sudden urge to do something with her hair. 

The girl took off her yellow-tinted glasses, cleaned them, and put them back on. “Sorry, did you want something?”

“I’m Amethyst,” Amethyst introduced herself. “And you would be?”  
“Oh! Erm, I’m Peridot,” the girl said. Lapis wondered how she got her hair to do that-it was all messy but in a way that looked purposeful, and almost looked like a triangle shape. 

“Nice name, Peri,” Amethyst said. “So hey, we were wondering-do you know if a Pearl lives around here?”  
“Um, no,” Peridot said. “Why?”

Amethyst glanced up at Lapis, who hesitated before nodding in confirmation. 

“We’re kind of...running away from home,” Amethyst said. “We were gonna stay with Pearl, but if you don’t know where she-”

“You can stay here!” Peridot blurted. 

“Wha?”

Peridot blushed. “I mean...just for tonight. Because..I don’t think you should be wandering around at night. Really. It sounds like a bad idea.” 

Amethyst looked at Lapis again. Lapis didn’t hesitate before nodding this time. 

“Sure,” Amethyst said. “Thanks.”

“I’m Lapis,” Lapis said as the two entered the house.

Peridot jumped. “Oh! Well. Nice to meet you.”  
“You too,” Lapis said with a small smile. 

_________________________________

Peridot had an awful feeling that this was going to be a problem the Internet couldn’t help with. 

This was actually so many problems that the Internet couldn’t help with, starting with “I let two girls into my house on an impulse and I don’t know what to do”, going onto “they were holding hands the whole time and I don’t know how to feel about that”, continuing to “how do you work a foldout couch”, and coming to a stunning conclusion with “what to do if you think  _ two _ girls are cute, especially when it feels like they might be dating”.

Actually, the Internet could help with the foldout couch one, and also the problem of whether assisting in a running-away counted as assisting in a crime. (It didn’t.)

“Thanks, Peri,” Amethyst said after they had gotten the couch folded out. She and Lapis were curled up like two cats on the mattress, not minding the lack of blankets. “I love you! Now go get some sleep!”

“Amethyst, you can’t just tell random girls you love them,” Lapis said as Peridot headed upstairs. 

“I’m  _ tired  _ and  _ affectionate  _ and  _ she’s really nice,”  _ Amethyst said. 

Peridot buried her flaming face in her hands.  _ Internet, scale of 1 to 10-how gay am I? Wait, don’t tell me. 11.  _


	6. Boom Clap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song by Charli XCX

Lapis awoke to bright sun in her eyes, a very heavy object (cat?) sitting on her, and the revelation that she had, apparently, pushed all her blankets off. 

“Yay,” she muttered, sitting up. She gently shoved her cat off of her. 

Wait a frog-damn second. She didn’t have a cat. 

Lapis’s eyes cleared and she took in the calmingly painted walls, the couch she was sitting on, and the lavender color and strange texture of the thing she had shoved off her. 

Oh, right. She had dyed her hair, her mom had been...her mom, and Lapis and Amethyst had left.

Lapis hesitantly got up (how was Amethyst still sleeping??) and tiptoed through the house. In retrospect, she felt very stupid. This had been a terrible, sleep-deprived plan, and there was no taking it back. 

Not that she wanted to go back to that house, really. But she did want her clothes back. And her phone-

“Shhhuck, my  _ phone!” _

There was a mutter from the bed, and Amethyst awoke.

“Hey Lazuli,” she said. Lapis waited patiently for Amethyst’s brain’s wi-fi to load. 

“Lazuli? What the heck are you doing-in my-wait. Shiiiiitake mushrooms.”

Lapis applauded quietly. “Try not to wake up Peridot.”

“Peridot,” Amethyst said quietly. Lapis felt a weird pang at the tone and decided not to think about it. 

There was the sound of steps on the stairs and Amethyst and Lapis froze in very suspicious positions. 

An adult woman with blond hair and an eyepatch over one eye (the other was a startlingly bright green) poked her head into the living room and yelped. 

Amethyst promptly fell off the couch and played dead. 

“I’m not stealing!” Lapis cried, backing away fast. “I’m sorry! I’ll leave!” She bumped into the couch and fell over.

The woman ran off. 

“Well, we’re dead,” Amethyst observed from the floor. 

“Ooooh no,” Lapis said, curling into a ball on the couch.

“I say we run. Again. Possibly not literally,” Amethyst said. “Maybe take some bread on our way out.”   
“Why bread?” Lapis said. “Also, no!”

“Well, I’m not paying,” Amethyst said.

“O-OKAY!” a voice called from the other room. Lapis mused that it sounded kind of like Alphys. God, she remembered the Undertale days… 

“I HAVE A BROOM NOW!” the voice continued. “S-SO GO AWAY! OR I WILL HIT YOU! WITH MY BROOM! Shoot, maybe I should have said gun…”

“Mom, stop,” another voice said, this one higher pitched.  _ Peridot,  _ Lapis thought with relief. She didn’t want to be a victim of broom-based violence.  _ Don’t become a statistic. Stay away from broom-based violence.  _

“Mom, this is...Amethyst and Lapis,” Peridot said, coming into full view. “They needed a place to stay.”

The woman reappeared, looking suspicious and wielding a broom. Lapis backed away. “Well, they haven’t killed anyone yet…”

Peridot sighed. “Come on, Mom, they’re my age. I think. How old are you guys?”

“I’m 15,” Amethyst said, using her Charisma stat for good finally. “Howdy ma’am, sorry to intrude like this-my friend got herself in a spot of trouble and your daughter was nice enough to help us out.”

Lapis slowly lowered her head into her hands, remembering too late that Amethyst’s Charisma stat wasn’t  _ that  _ high. 

“I’m Amethyst Terra,” Amethyst formally introduced herself, sticking out her hand. “This is Lapis Lazuli, my good friend. And you are?”

“I’m Jade Hanley,” the woman introduced herself. “This is my daughter, Peridot!”

“Hi,” Peridot said. 

“Howdy!” Amethyst said brightly. “Well, if you would be so kind as to lend us a horse and bread, we’ll be on our-”   
“AMETHYST!” Lapis interrupted. “Sorry Mrs. Hanley.”

Peridot laughed a little and Lapis felt that weird pang again. “Anyway, as Amethyst here was trying to say, thank you very much for having us-albite unknowingly-and we can go now.”

“Shit, my clothes,” Amethyst muttered. When did Lapis become the best conversationalist between the two of them?

“Oh, it’s no problem!” Mrs. Hanley said, waving her hands. “Why don’t you have some food and we’ll talk about why you are in my house?”

“Erm..sure,” Lapis said. 

 

Lapis slowly and dignifedly (was that a word?) sipped her water. Amethyst ate some toast. Peridot stirred some melting Crunch Puffs. 

“So!” Mrs. Hanley said brightly. “Why are you here?”

Amethyst and Lapis exchanged a fierce dialogue in looks, which Lapis won. 

“We’re um...travelers,” Amethyst said. 

“Travelers,” Mrs. Hanley repeated. 

Peridot gave Lapis a “really?” look.  

There was no point to existence at all, Lapis decided. At this point death would be a mercy. 

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. “Me and my girl Lazuli out here...traveling. Around. Town.”   
“The town where we have lived our entire lives,” Lapis deadpanned. 

Peridot snickered a little. Lapis took back her previous entreaty to God for death. 

“You’re running away from home, huh,” Mrs. Hanley said. 

“Whaaaaat?” Amethyst said, dropping her toast. “Us? Running away? NooOOoOo.”

“You are a terrible liar,” Lapis said. 

“And you hate socialization, Lappy-Laz,” Amethyst said. “If you wanted to talk, you should have done it before I messed everything up.”

“So you are running away?” Peridot said.

Lapis jumped and flushed. “Yes. Well, kinda, I-” She looked to Amethyst for help. 

“It’s more like a spontaneous move without parent permission,” Amethyst offered. 

“So where are you moving to?” Peridot asked, thankfully interrupting before her mother could point out that that was the same thing as running away.

“Um, our friend Pearl’s house,” Amethyst said. “Which we actually ought to be heading to, I’m sure she’s freaking out.”   
“Oh, obviously,” Peridot said. 

Lapis took this social cue and stood up. “You’re exactly right, Amethyst, we  _ should  _ be heading out.”

“Wait, but-” Mrs. Hanley said. 

“Of course!” Peridot interrupted. “I should definitely get your numbers so that we can make sure you’re doing okay.”

Lapis was completely taken off-guard. She had thought there was a coordinated effort going on to get her and Amethyst to Pearl’s house with as little trouble as possible, aided by Peridot. The request for numbers was an extremely pleasant but equally unexpected development. 

Thank goodness for Amethyst. 

“Yeah, of course!” Amethyst said. “My number is-”   
Peridot pulled out her phone and with a couple taps, Amethyst’s number had been added to her contacts. Amethyst nudged Lapis to remind her to give Peridot her number as well. 

“But shouldn’t we call someone?” Mrs. Hanley said, looking more than a little confused. “I mean..do your parents know about this?”   
“My mom told me to leave,” Lapis said. It wasn’t strictly a lie. “No worries!” That part was definitely a lie. 

“But that-”   
“We reeeeally should get going, bye!” Amethyst said, handing Peridot back her phone. “Thanks for the toast!”

Lapis and Amethyst ducked quickly out the door, leaving Peridot and her mother behind, one confused and the other delighted. 


	7. Rebel Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooow, it's been...a while. If you keep up with my other fics you probably get why, but tl;dr: I'm back in business and this is honestly one of my favorite stories so there shouldn't be another hiatus as long as that for a while!  
> Enjoy Pearls. Just...so many Pearls.

“HI!” the small girl standing at the door said/yelled. 

“Hi, uh…” Amethyst trailed off, unable to recall this girl’s name. She knew it was definitely Pearl’s sister, which was good, but her name was...Pink? Something with a P, right? Petunia?

“Strawberry!” the girl said, smiling brightly.

“That can’t be her real name, right?” Lapis asked Amethyst.

“I’m RIGHT HERE,” Strawberry (?) said. 

“Who is it?” called someone else, and a second girl came into view. “Oh hey. It’s...you two. Sorry about the Strawberry thing. SOMEone thought it would be cute to give us all fruit-based nicknames, and she’s gotten attached.” 

This one Amethyst remembered. “Hey Marigold. Is Pearl here?”  
“She’s upstairs,” Marigold said. 

“She’s Coconut!” Strawberry squealed. There was a quiet laugh from somewhere behind her. 

“Thanks,” Amethyst said, and the two entered the house. 

“Hi,” a quiet voice said from the couch. Lapis glanced over to see a small girl with blue hair. 

“Hey,” Lapis said. “Were the nicknames your idea?”

The girl nodded. “I’m Blueberry.”   
“Nice,” Lapis said.   
“PEEEARL!” Amethyst shouted, making everyone jump. “It’s us!”

Pearl came down, looking distinctly disgruntled. “Well, look who miraculously isn’t dead.” 

“It’s us!” Amethyst said.

Pearl narrowed her eyes. “Come upstairs.”  
“Oooh, is something happening?” Marigold said, leaning in interestedly. Strawberry (Petunia?) mimicked her. 

“None of your business,” Pearl said, turning back upstairs.

“That means it’s interesting!” Marigold said. 

“I  _ said  _ none of your business!” Pearl said before walking up the stairs very quickly. Lapis and Amethyst followed.

Once they’d gotten inside, Pearl dramatically slammed the door, opened it again to check that no one was outside, and closed the door again. “Okay, let’s talk.”

“Won’t...uh...Pinky pull the “it’s my room too” trick?” Amethyst asked. She was more familiar with the ways of Pearl’s sisters.

Pearl shrugged. “Posy’s ‘new best friend’ is coming over soon, so I think she’ll be sufficiently distracted.”

“Oh,  _ Posy,”  _ Amethyst muttered.

Lapis shuffled awkwardly. “So uh...what did you want to talk about?”

“Where the hell WERE you guys?” Pearl burst out. “I stayed up half of last night waiting for you! You could have  _ died!”  _

“We could not have,” Amethyst objected. “What, is some random senior citizen gonna run us over with a lawnmower?”

“You could have caught your death of cold! You could have  _ at least texted.”  _

“Listen, Pearl, it’s fine,” Lapis said, stepping in before Amethyst could say anything. “We got lost, knocked on the wrong door, and met a cute girl who let us stay there and didn’t murder us. It’s  _ fine.”  _

“You went into a stranger’s home?” Pearl practically shrieked. 

“She was our age!” Amethyst protested. “And her mom was cool with it! Eventually!”

“I’m sorry,” Lapis mumbled.

“Wait, you thought she was cute?” Amethyst said. 

Pearl sighed. “It’s okay. It’s fine! It could  _ definitely  _ have been worse.” 

“There we go,” Amethyst said. 

“So...what now?” Lapis said. 

Pearl rubbed her forehead. “I guess we go to school. And then...we figure it out.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Amethyst said with a grin. 


	8. Raise Your Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis and Amethyst rendezvous with their friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is the song by P!nk.

“LAPIS!” Bismuth screeched as soon as the two walked into school the next day.

“Amethyst,” Garnet said with a distinct hint of relief. 

“Hi guys,” Amethyst said with a wave.

“What the fuck HAPPENED?” Bismuth said, enthusiastically gesturing for them to sit down. “I have like, fifty-two texts from Pearl saying y’all are fucking DEAD, and suddenly you’re fine and met a girl? What  _ happened?” _

“Give us some time to talk, Bis, geez,” Amethyst said, stealing a pretzel. “Okay, so like, we’re walking to Pearl’s, right, and it’s really fuckin’ dark, so we can’t tell where she is, so we go over to this  _ other  _ house, an-“

“Hey,” Garnet said, startling Lapis so much she nearly fell out of her seat. “Are you alright?”

“I-I, uh, I think so. Yeah. I mean. Right now, yeah. In the present moment, I am not in immediate danger. Although I think I'm freaking out.”

“That’s understandable,” Garnet said, patting Lapis’s shoulder. “You’ve been through quite a bit. If you want to nap in history, I won’t snitch.”

“Okay, and so then her  _ mom  _ comes out, and she has a broom, and she’s like ‘I’m gonna fucking kill you’, except  _ not,  _ because  _ mom-“  _ Amethyst was continuing, now with hand waving.

“She wasn’t  _ that  _ bad,” Lapis protested. “She was pretty chill, actually.”

“So can you guys stay there or what?” Bismuth said. Amethyst subtly reached for a grape.

“What? No,” Lapis said with a forced laugh. “We barely know these people. Obviously no.”

“Diss,” Bismuth said with a frown. She glanced at her grapes and then at Amethyst. “Heyyy…”

“Thanks for the grapes!”

“Fuck you!”

“So anyway, where are you staying, if not there?” Bismuth said, returning her attention to Lapis.

“ _ That  _ is precisely why we’re here,” Pearl said.

“We’re here because child labor is illegal,” Bismuth corrected.

“We’re here because you made us come,” Amethyst said.

“We’re here because my moms would be sad if we weren’t,” Garnet added.

“I left my headphones at my house,” Lapis said.

“What does that have to do with it?” Bismuth asked.

“I need my headphones. For cool and non-emo purposes.”

“Gotcha.”

“As I was saying,” Pearl said firmly, “We need to figure out a short-term plan for where Lapis and Amethyst can stay while we figure out a long-term plan.”

“My house,” Garnet said immediately. “My moms were probably more concerned last night than I was, which is saying a lot.”

“Your moms are the coolest,” Amethyst said. 

“They really are,” Lapis agreed.

“Now, about the long-term-“ Pearl began, but Bismuth held up a hand. “Pearlie girlie, I understand you want to make sure everything goes fine, but I think right now you just have to let it go for a bit. We can plan more tomorrow when we’re all less stressed out.”

Pearl sighed. “You’re right.”

“I know.”

“If that’s cleared up,” Garnet said with a smile, “finish telling us about this girl.”


End file.
